WAD2 Windows Phone 7 theme boosts performance [Video]

Remember yesterday's Windows Phone 7 Metro UI theme for Windows Mobile 6.5 devices? Performance on the early alpha was sluggish, but it looks like Jaxbot's project isn't the only one out there looking to put some new shine on older devices. LeSScro has been working on a Metro UI theme, based on WisBar Advance Desktop 2.x, and it's running a whole lot more smoothly than yesterday's attempt.

Video demo after the cut

Like that, it includes the distinctive tile-based Start screen, together with the lockscreen with its time, date and notification icons. There are transitional animations between pages, as well as profile settings (including WiFi and volume), and he's even added in various Hubs - Microsoft's way of distinguishing between sets of common functionality - including Pictures, Games, Media, Office and Stocks. Right now it's only suitable for WVGA devices, however, and it's still in a relatively early development stage.

Frankly, with news coming out of Microsoft that pretty much no Windows Mobile 6.5.3 device will be eligible for a Windows Phone 7 upgrade because of issues with hardware controls, all of a sudden this DIY UI packages are starting to look a whole lot more appealing. As we've said before, when nicely skinned WinMo can be a very usable OS, it's just not been that attractive in its basic form for several generations.